


Safe in the Dark

by Sp00py



Series: TV Mono Cinematic Universe [3]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Amnesia, Blood, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shock, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29703069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sp00py/pseuds/Sp00py
Summary: Mono takes Nosebleed's hand, and the story plays out very differently from there.AKA Hospital Discharge 2: Electric Boogaloo, in which Nosebleed joins our intrepid duo on their mission to stop the Transmission and save the world, or at least each other.
Relationships: Mono & Nosebleed (Little Nightmares), Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Series: TV Mono Cinematic Universe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152806
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Safe in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This one's gonna be far less structured than the previous story. Sometimes u might have Mono's POV, or Nosebleed, or Six, or a mix or whatever I feel like. Also stole this title from another Ludo song, lol. Picks up partway through Chapter 11 of Hospital Discharge and diverges wildly from there.

For one horrible second, Mono wanted to run. Nosebleed had attacked him. She’d made her bed.

She’d been _scared_.

Images of Six tearing into her, silencing her screams, flashed so vividly in his mind, it was like that had actually happened. The thought of how terrified she must have been when he ran drowned him in sudden, oppressive disgust and self-hatred. He couldn’t let that become reality. He couldn’t let her die.

Mono grabbed her hand, then put himself horribly, dangerously between the two before Six could bite her more fatally. Six snapped at him with the sharp click of teeth for touching her prey, but stopped her attack. Then, after a heartbeat of anticipation, she reluctantly pulled herself away. She didn’t need to eat. She didn’t _need_ Nosebleed. Mono did.

And so she didn’t have her. Mono’s relief was palpable as Six climbed entirely off of Nosebleed and walked away to… do whatever she wanted. He’d have to make sure she knew just how much he appreciated her restraint. He didn’t know how, but he’d find a way. For now, though, Mono returned his attention to Nosebleed.

She was trembling, from her lips to the tips of her fingers, tiny and terrified, with the occasional violent tremor as her breath hitched. Her pupils were so dilated they made her eyes look almost entirely black. He wasn’t sure if this was because of whatever… whatever she’d done to him, which he would worry about later, or Six’s attack.

“Nosebleed?” Mono asked, crawling up to her head and gently placing it on his knees. He needed a better name for her, but it was hard to think of her as anything but Nosebleed, now. She was really, really pale, almost washing out the freckles on her cheeks and creating dark, deep shadows under her eyes. The blood scrawled across her face stood out in stark, horrible relief. He held her hand tightly. “Can you hear me?”

Her eyes flicked up to his. That was promising.

“Six is gone. You’re okay. You’re okay,” he whispered, curling over Nosebleed protectively, wiping at the tears and blood and rain on her face, only to have more tears, more rain, fall. As Mono petted her and cooed comforting nonsense, Nosebleed’s eyes slipped closed. At first, horrifyingly, he thought she’d died, but Mono found a pulse weak and fluttering in her neck.

He struggled to pull her along without jostling her too much, eventually forcing himself to enlist Six’s unhappy help as they retreated back to the alcove. Mono smashed his bag down into a lumpy pillow, and got Nosebleed situated more comfortably. Six sat at the edge, getting splashed by rain as she tucked her legs under her head and glared out into the alley.

Mono curled up next to Nosebleed, eyes locked onto her face for any shift, any indication of distress. Right now, Nosebleed was deathly still, except for the faint rise and fall of her chest. He hoped against hope that she’d wake up.

  
  
  
  


Nosebleed groaned, dragging Mono from an uneasy doze. He shot upright, bleary gaze scouring the alley. Six was gone.

He leaned over Nosebleed, squinting in the weak light of nighttime. She shifted, rolled a little, then settled with a wince. Not waking up, then. But this looked like a more natural sleep than earlier. She shivered, and he realized how cold she must be, with only her thin hospital gown that was torn all through and the blood loss. _Idiot_.

Mono shrugged out of his coat and draped it over Nosebleed, tucking the sleeves around her and making sure as much of her was covered as possible. Once he was sure she wasn’t in any discomfort, he checked her new wounds -- all caked up and scabbed, good. She hadn’t opened anything again.

Then, and only then, did Mono get to his feet and pad out into the rain, with one last longing glance back at his paper bag tucked under Nosebleed. He kept his hands up to his head, peeking through his fingers as though that would hide him nearly as well as the bag had done.

“Six?” he whispered when he didn’t immediately see her yellow raincoat. No response.

Mono continued on, scouring every shadow and hidey hole a child could fit into.

He found her, finally, curled up inside a broken TV. Cautiously, Mono approached and leaned down to peer in. Six glared at him.

“Can I join you?”

After a moment’s thought in which he seriously thought she might say no, Six scooted closer to the back and curled herself tighter. Mono reached in and began pulling out cords and circuit boards and other pieces that Six had just shoved aside, then climbed in after.

“Thanks,” he said once he was sure he wasn’t sitting on broken glass or any of the metal pieces still inside. “For letting me in and for not eating Nosebleed.”

Six huffed and crossed her arms over her knees, looking very intently at the back of the TV. “Stupid Nosebleed.”

Mono sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation, he could already tell. He yawned. It felt like forever since he’d slept properly, and that disgusting high he’d felt from before was already fading.

“I know you don’t like her, and I don’t think she likes you, anymore, either,” he said, picking slowly through his words like he was walking through a field of broken glass.

“Didn’t like me at all,” Six muttered.

“I think she did! I bet she can, again.”

“Don’t care.”

Mono shoved himself over to Six’s side, so they were sitting smushed together. He didn’t argue against that, though clearly Six did care. He wasn’t going to pretend what it was like, being both a child and a person who ate children. It must be hard, and confusing. _He_ was confused, and he wasn’t the one who ate kids. Technically.

“ _I_ like you,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder. That got a flicker of a smile. “I know how great you are. Nosebleed… she’s just been through a lot. She hasn’t had a chance to get to know you like I do. Can you give her a chance?”

“Don’t wanna,” Six said immediately.

Mono clasped his hands in front of his face and gave Six the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage. “For me?”

She snorted and gave a half-shrug, which was probably the closest Mono was going to get to an agreement.

Mono hugged her awkwardly from the side. A sniffle broke free, followed by another, and Six turned fully in his arms, eyes wide as he began to cry. He hadn’t wanted to cry, but here he was and the tears wouldn’t stop falling. “Thanks, Six,” he mumbled, feeling like that was so inadequate. Every time she forgave him or helped him, and he didn’t deserve that. “I was so scared --” _I was going to let you eat her. I was going to die. I messed up everything._

Six patted his arms, before turning it into a proper hug. She hummed as Mono cried himself into exhaustion, terrified at that sudden, churning darkness inside. Nosebleed’s words ricocheted in his head. Was she really wrong? Mono decided whoever Six ate didn’t deserve to live. Six was more important. But you couldn’t care about _everyone_. Your friends came first.

Until one of your friends was about to eat the other. Then who came first?

Six held Mono until he slipped into fitful, exhausted sleep, thoughts circling and tangling. She continued petting and humming.

He woke up with his head on her shoulder, feeling much better. Mono wiped at his eyes, surprised to find he didn’t have his bag on --

“Nosebleed!”

Six jerked, startled from her own nap. She rubbed her eyes, then scowled at Mono.

“Sorry,” he said reflexively, crawling out of the TV. How had he forgotten, for even a second? Guilt clawed at him. He shouldn’t have been sleeping, he should have been watching her.

“I need to go check on her. I shouldn’t have left her -- oh, uh.” Awkwardly, Mono interrupted himself, one hand coming to cover his face, the other reaching out for Six. “Do you… are you ready to come back?”

Six crawled out after him, not taking his hand. He waited an awkward moment longer before covering his face with it, feeling bad about dragging her into this mess. If he’d not said anything, they could all have gotten along. He’d have to watch his mouth in the future, if Nosebleed even wanted to stay (ever woke up) after that.

The rain continued to fall, eternally flooding the streets and soaking into Mono’s pant legs as he jogged back, Six lagging behind him. Nosebleed was sitting up. His jog turned into a run, and she turned her head when she heard the splash of their footsteps.

She immediately shoved backwards, until her back was pressed against the wall, terror flashing across her face.

“No, no,” Mono said, crouching down, hands out low, like how he sometimes approached Six. “It’s okay. She’s not going to eat you.”

Nosebleed’s gaze flickered to Mono, fear giving way to confusion as she swallowed hard. “Who -- Mono?” she asked, voice slurring a little. “Six? What’s going on?”

Mono glanced back at Six in confusion. Despite that original fear, Nosebleed seemed far less upset than he’d expected. Six just shrugged.

“You hit your head?” Mono tried, kneeling down in front of her and keeping his hands up. “Can I... Can I take a look?” He gestured to the back of his own head.

Nosebleed’s thin hand rose to her forehead, as though trying to parse through what he was even saying, before she gave the faintest of nods and turned around gingerly so she was facing the wall, hugging his coat close for warmth. So trusting, as though Six wasn’t a problem. He doubted it was because she trusted Mono to keep Six off of her. He hadn’t, before. He'd let her -- no, that hadn't happened. Stop acting like it did.

Mono thought that might be a bad sign, forgetting something like what she saw and experienced after cracking her skull open, but it made things easier. Nosebleed needed help, and the only one to offer it was Mono. He gave Six a weak smile as he crawled closer on his knees, and she just rolled her eyes and plopped back down at the edge.

He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but from what little he could remember of TV shows, that Nosebleed was talking and coherent was good? He just needed to make sure the wound itself looked fine, under all that blood.

Mono dragged in the tin can he’d filled when he’d first tended to Nosebleed, and undid Nosebleed’s now snarled and wild braids. He scooped water in his hands to loosen the dried blood, apologizing for every wince and shiver as bloodied water trickled down her back. He kept talking, asking questions, making sure Nosebleed wasn’t slipping into nonsense or unconsciousness again. He was pretty sure he was supposed to be doing that. And, though he was a little ashamed to acknowledge it even to himself, finding out what she remembered so he hopefully never had to address Six’s eating. Or whatever it was Nosebleed herself had done.

“You got knocked over,” he said. Not quite lying. Mono was a bad liar, but he could tell half-truths just fine. “Do you remember how?”

“No,” Nosebleed said quietly, after a long moment of silence.

“What do you remember?” The blood was leaving her blond hair pinkish, and ran fresh from a gash at the base of her skull, curling up toward the crown. Mono’s fingers ghosted gingerly over the injury. The doctor was dead. Maybe he should go back into the hospital for first aid supplies.

“We escaped… through a TV?” she answered, trailing off into a question. It sounded absurd even without a concussion. "You did that, right?"

“Yeah, good, good.”

“And Six left to find food. And you wrapped my leg and we… uh…. Well, _you know.”_

Even with her back to him, Mono knew she was blushing. He was, too, and cast a frantic glance at Six, who raised an eyebrow as she picked idly at a scab on her arm, then looked back out into the alley, as though completely uninterested in the conversation. Mono returned to the task at hand.

“What else?” Mono squeaked out.

“Then I left for some reason. I guess I got attacked then? Why did I leave? I was looking for something, I think...”

Mono let out a sigh of relief, though he’d rather she not think anything like an attack happened, he was glad her memories petered out so quickly. He supposed she had learned a _lot_ of horrible stuff very quickly. This was a mercy.

“Or you fell,” he offered, focusing only on the first part.

Nosebleed looked off to the side, brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Yeah, I could have…”

Mono sat back, hands stained with blood and wrapped in strands of hair he was having trouble getting off. “I think we need some actual bandages,” he announced. “It’s pretty grisly.”

“Back into the hospital?” Nosebleed asked quietly, her face scrunching up at the idea. She’d spent so long there, probably seen and experienced so much. Mono squeezed her shoulder.

“You don’t have to go! Me or Six -- Six can go,” Mono said. Six gave an indignant noise (so she was listening!).

Nosebleed turned around carefully, swallowing again. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m trying really hard not to puke.”

“It’s okay, Nosebleed,” Mono said immediately.

It took Nosebleed a moment to gather her thoughts. She thankfully didn’t say anything about his slip-up with her name. He wished he hadn't started calling her that in the first place. “You killed the doctor,” she said to Six, finally. Forming coherent thoughts still seemed to be a struggle.

Six climbed to her feet, as though already knowing she'd have to be the one to go back, and nodded. She looked justifiably pleased with herself.

Nosebleed tried to stand, too, but almost instantly flopped back down. “Okay,” she said more to herself, then looked up at Six. “Okay, I definitely can’t go with you. Will you be safe on your own?”

Six just snorted and left.

“Was that a stupid question?” Nosebleed asked, once Six was far enough away. “Also how is she getting back in?”

Mono stared at her. He’d completely forgotten about that, already. Six and he were so rarely separated, it was almost like she could travel through TVs too.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, snatching up his paper bag and scrambling after Six. “Maybe, uh, count or something, until I get back? And don’t doze off!”

Nosebleed said something, but he didn’t catch it.


End file.
